Indigenous leaders hope Vatican continues reconciliation efforts advanced by Francis

Gov. Gen. says the pontiff's apology for widespread abuses in the residential school system was a significant step in addressing historical injustices

Indigenous leaders in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis say they hope the Vatican continues to promote the reconciliation efforts he championed during his papacy.

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon says the pontiff’s apology for widespread abuses in the residential school system was a significant step in addressing historical injustices.

Canada’s first Indigenous governor general led the Canadian delegation at the funeral this morning, where she reflected on Francis’s monumental visit in 2022 to reach out to Indigenous Peoples.

She and Wilton Littlechild, a residential school survivor who served as a commissioner for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, say they hope Francis’s successor continues those efforts.

Simon called the apology “a significant milestone” on the “journey of reconciliation,” while Littlechild said there’s a need to “elevate our work on reconciliation.”

They were among the dignitaries and religious faithful who bid farewell to Pope Francis and remembered his efforts to reach out to marginalized communities including migrants, the poor and the sick.

“I hope that the new pope will carry on the work that Pope Francis was doing,” Simon said Saturday, reached by phone in Rome hours after the funeral.

“The apology was a significant milestone, and we have to continue working together on the journey of reconciliation. The fact that he came to Canada and apologized on Canadian lands, on Indigenous lands, was very significant.”